Business ethics

The expression probably seems like an oxymoron, even more so in today's corporatist environment. The Chamber of Commerce lobbies policy makers to get lots of goodies, and then when it's time to pay the piper, they turn to the general public, taxpayers like you, to pick up the pieces. A case in point is featured today in a column by Scott Mooneyham. Hat tip to Policy Watch for digging up the story.

They won’t say it, but it’s obvious what is wanted by a portion of the business community in North Carolina and their backers at the state Legislature. It’s that most volatile of words in the political world these days, a word sure to rile up conservatives and liberals alike. Dare I even tap out the seven letters?

B-A-I-L-O-U-T.

There, the deed is done. Oh sure, they’ll deny that’s what they want. But what else do you call a desire to make up for a $2.5 billion debt with general tax dollars — either from federal or state taxpayers — especially when that debt is largely the result of earlier financial irresponsibility? The $2.5 billion is how much the state has borrowed from the federal government to pay out unemployment benefits since 2008.

It's the free market at its finest: The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce buying politicians to get public policies that reward businesses while shifting all the risks to citizen taxpayers. It must be god's will.